Autifony Therapeutics Ltd has received funding to progress a second compound into clinical development that targets voltage-gated potassium channels in the brain. The indication is schizophrenia. It is already investigating a compound against the same target for hearing loss and tinnitus.
A spin-out from the University of Oxford has developed a new way of preserving livers for transplant. Instead of cooling the organs and storing them on ice, researchers have developed a device that maintains the liver in an environment that mimics that of the body.
MorphoSys has regained rights from Celgene Corp to an experimental antibody for patients with multiple myeloma following the termination of a co-development and co-promotion agreement between the two companies.
A cardiovascular outcomes study of Lyxumia (lixisenatide) in high-risk patients with Type 2 diabetes has shown that the drug is not inferior, although not superior, to placebo, according to the study’s sponsor, Sanofi SA. The Phase 3b trial is called ELIXA.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has taken the unusual step of making a $52 million equity investment in CureVac GmbH of Germany which has technology for making prophylactic vaccines that don’t require cold chain storage and distribution. The technology is based on messenger RNA.
Denmark-based Genmab A/S and BioNovion BV of the Netherlands have upgraded a research agreement in oncology to a full co-development and commercialisation deal in order to progress work on candidate bispecific antibody products that inhibit immune checkpoints.
Enrolment has stopped in a Wellcome Trust-funded trial of an experimental treatment for the Ebola virus in Liberia following a significant fall in new cases of the infection, the Trust announced on 3 February. The drug’s producer, Chimerix Inc, had previously said it would no longer support the trial.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc said a Phase 3 trial of its candidate vaccine against the Ebola virus is set to start in Liberia in the coming weeks, subject to regulatory approval. The trial is being led by the US National Institutes of Health, which is a co-developer of the vaccine.
AM-Pharma BV of the Netherlands has received regulatory approval to conduct a Phase 2 trial of its product for acute kidney injury using an adaptive trial design that is intended to establish the m
Eight projects aimed at tackling the health crisis in west Africa caused by the spread of the Ebola virus have been jointly announced by the Innovative Medicines Initiative and the European industry federation, Efpia, in Brussels.